INDIA: Congress Win in Maharashtra Seen as Triumph for Secularism

By Ranjit Devraj Reprint | | Print |

Analysis - By Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, Oct 18 2004 (IPS) - The resounding electoral victory of Congress and its secular allies in the provincial elections in western Maharashtra state is being seen as an endorsement of the party’s brand of politics that champions the poor – one that saw it return to national power in May after an eight-year hiatus.

It also provides confirmation that India’s electorate is fed up of the communal politics of the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which was unseated from power in a shock electoral defeat – first in the May general elections and now in Maharashtra, the country’s industrially most advanced state.

The Congress and its main ally the National Congress Party (NCP) and other groups that together put up a secular front secured 141 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly while the BJP and its close ally, Shiv Sena (Shiva’s Army), mustered just a total of 117.

”Over the last two years there has been a groundswell of opinion against the kind of politics being played out in Gujarat (state adjoining Maharashtra),” said Shabnam Hashmi, a well-known human rights activist and leader of the ANHAD (Open Platform), in an interview with IPS on Monday.

Joining hands with some 50 other groups ANHAD campaigned aggressively across Maharashtra distributing leaflets and urging people to vote for secular parties. They also wanted them to reject the BJP and Shiv Sena.

”The response we got was tremendous with people saying that they did not want communal politics to spread from Gujarat into Maharashtra,” said Hashmi.

Among the star campaigners for the BJP in Maharashtra was Gujarat’s Chief Minister Narendra Modi who has been indicted by well-known rights groups for overseeing the anti-Muslim pogrom that raged for several months through his state in 2002 leaving more than 2,000 people dead.

The shock defeat of the BJP and its right-wing allies in the May general elections was widely attributed to the failure of its top leadership, led by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to effectively intervene in the violence and discipline Modi.

The BJP’s demise from power politics was also attributed to the pro-rich policies of the Vajpayee government that tried to sell the idea of a ”Shining India” campaign, which not only failed to capture the imagination of the country’s poverty-stricken masses but also enraged them.

Far from learning lessons from the debacle, the BJP set about trying to win the elections in Maharashtra by trying to rake up pro-Hindu sentiments over imagined insults to the memory of Veer Savarkar.

Savarkar took part in India’s anti-colonial struggle against British rule but wanted the country to become a Hindu state.

But the Congress and its allies retaliated, and it seems successfully, by airing serious allegations that Savarkar was part of the conspiracy to murder Mahatma Gandhi. They also blamed him for the historical events that led to the creation of Pakistan from a larger India in 1947.

”We are disappointed with the results of the Maharashtra elections – we had hoped for a victory in that state,” said BJP’s national president Venkiah Naidu conceding defeat at a press conference on Monday.

Naidu also announced his resignation and the handing over of the reins of the party to Lal Krishna Advani best known for riding motorised chariots across the country and whipping up a pro-Hindu fervor that resulted in the 1992 demolition of the 17th century Babri Masjid mosque in Ayodhya in northern Uttar Pradesh state.

The demolition of the Babri Masjid led to communal riots across the country between India’s Hindu majority and Muslims who form 14 percent of the country’s billion plus population.

Most affected by the new polarisation was the state of Maharashtra and its bustling capital of Mumbai on the Arabian sea, known for its cosmopolitan outlook and its prosperous Muslim merchants and businessmen.

Mumbai is also known for its textile mills – dating back to the British colonial era – which closed down as a result of economic restructuring. These mills are now being rapidly converted into shopping malls and business centers catering to the newly rich elites, while unemployed textile workers are left to build shacks outside their high walls in the hope of receiving compensation.

Earlier this year, in January, Mumbai played host to the World Social Forum (WSF) – the first time it was held outside its original home of Porto Allegre in Brazil – where the problems of globalisation and the widening disparity of income between the rich and poor were aired and discussed.

On taking office in May, India’s new Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a former World Bank economist promised that while he would stick with India’s commitment to globalisation, he would ensure that it has a human face to it – a key demand made by activists at the Mumbai WSF.

The Congress Party’s return to power in New Delhi was the result of a new partnership it built with India’s communist parties with the express purpose of defeating the BJP and its pro-Hindu politics. The partnership has worked well once again in Maharashtra.

”There is no doubt that the Congress alliance’s triumph in the 14th general election and the consequent adoption of the National Common Minimum Programme sent out a positive message to voters in Maharashtra,” commented the respected ‘Hindu’ newspaper in an editorial on Monday.

The ‘Hindu’ attributed the win in Maharashtra to the fact that Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi personally campaigned in the elections and concentrated on livelihood issues.

”The huge crowds at Mrs. Gandhi’s rallies (in Maharashtra) suggested that she had become something of a cult figure following her rejection of the prime minister’s post,” the ‘Hindu’ editorial said referring to her unexpected renunciation of the top job after leading her party to its historic victory in May.

Said Hashmi: ”Everywhere we went in Maharashtra we found people longing for a return to the secular and egalitarian ideals on which this country was founded and the best expression of that is visible in the way they voted.”